The Emsella Chair is a medical device that has been approved by the FDA as a safe treatment for urinary leakage. Essentially patients sit in the chair and the chair sends electrical impulses to stimulate the pelvic floor muscles to contract. The Emsella advertises that in a 20-ish minute session, it can mimic 10,000+ pelvic floor contractions.

That sounds great, but kegels are not always the answer.

Pelvic floor physical therapy is gaining more popularity in recent years. With the emergence of new pelvic health biomedical technology, social media influence, and push for women’s health advocacy, pelvic floor physical therapy is becoming a household name. But what exactly is pelvic floor physical therapy, and who specifically would benefit from it? Let’s break it all down.

In pelvic floor physical therapy, any condition affecting bowel, bladder, or sexual function can be treated and addressed. This includes constipation and fecal incontinence, urinary urgency, frequency, and leakage, and sexual dysfunction or pain in adults. These symptoms are all forms of pelvic floor dysfunction.

Pelvic floor dysfunction, or symptoms of a problematic pelvic floor typically occur when the pelvic floor muscles are weak, tight, painful, or not working properly.

Treatment for vaginismus will differ person to person, but mental health therapy and pelvic floor physical therapy are crucial components to vaginismus treatment.

Pelvic floor physical therapy plays another crucial role in vaginismus treatment. Pelvic floor physical therapists can help patients relax the pelvic floor muscles through manual treatments, dilator therapy, nervous system relaxation, and pelvic floor relaxation exercises.

The key components to a diastasis recti physical therapy program includes core, shoulder and hip strengthening exercises. Since diastasis recti can affect the abdomen anywhere from the ribs down to the pelvis, it is important that physical therapy for diastasis recti incorporates strengthening and improving function of all the muscle groups that control the core.

Since we are also likely dealing with compensations, your diastasis recti physical therapy treatment should also consist of manual therapy, including soft tissue and joint mobilizations to help relax the tissue that may be compensating for core activation.

Tailbone pain during pregnancy is extremely common. Postural changes, weight gain, pressure and tension on the pelvic floor during to the weight of the growing baby, and increased ligament laxity all contribute to reasons you may have tailbone pain start in pregnancy.

Diastasis recti physical therapy can begin immediately postpartum on fundamental movement and breathing techniques, as well as lifestyle factors that might be playing a role. A diastasis recti physical therapist will design a treatment plan that is customized to your activity level, postpartum healing stage, and your specific functional capacity of your core.

Pain with sex. Painful intercourse. Dyspareunia. Vaginismus. Whatever you call it, when your partner is in pain, having intercourse can be extremely difficult or impossible. Pain with penetrative intercourse is one of the top things that we as pelvic floor physical therapists help our patients overcome.

Typically, patients experiencing pain with intercourse have significant pelvic floor muscle tightness or pelvic floor muscle spasm. When the muscles are tight, they are painful. When something is painful, it leads to more clenching, tension, and spasm. When something is painful, we typically don’t want to keep doing it and therefore when sex is painful, sexual desire plummets. This vicious cycle is seen way too often in the pelvic health world. So what leads to this cycle in the first place?

Your body goes through a lot of changes during pregnancy. Over the course of 9 months, your ribs widened, your diaphragm shortened, your pelvic floor lengthened, your pelvis widened, your posture changed and your ligaments got more stretchy. Postpartum PTs specialize in helping women recover from pregnancy and it important that the postpartum physical therapist your choose is qualified.

Postpartum physical therapy focuses on restoring the joint alignment, posture and muscle coordination so that you can connect with your body post-birth. The goal of postpartum physical therapy is to get you back to the activities you love, safely. Postpartum physical therapists help create routines of postpartum exercises that can progress you towards all the things you want to do postpartum.

Not all physical therapists are diastasis recti specialists however. Diastasis recti therapy is a specific type of physical therapy. Not all physical therapists have the training in how to rehabilitate a postpartum woman’s core and how to structure a safe yet effective rehab program for them.

There are several types of diastasis recti therapies for you to pursue if you are struggling with diastasis recti. Different types of diastasis recti therapies include: at home diastasis programs, training with a personal training, working with a diastasis recti physical therapist, and surgery.

So how do you know what exercises to avoid with diastasis recti? The exercises to avoid with diastasis recti are person specific. In general, anything that makes the midline of your stomach bulge should be assessed by a trained professional.

The internal tailbone adjustment (also known as mobilization) is typically most effective when combined with soft tissue mobilization to the pelvic floor muscles. Since the pelvic floor muscles attach directly to the tailbone, often these muscles can pull on the tip of the tailbone. Therefore, combining internal pelvic floor muscle release with internal tailbone adjustments, is often very effective at reducing tailbone pain.

Pelvic floor therapy is the best form of treatment for coccydynia (or tailbone pain). Pelvic floor physical therapists are specialty trained physical therapists that can perform internal assessments and treatments which are extremely effective at helping relieve tailbone pain. This is because the pelvic floor muscles have a direct attachment to the tailbone and therefore can be one of the main contributing factors to tailbone pain. Physical therapy often includes postural training/lifestyle modifications, pelvic floor relaxation exercises, massage and soft tissue release to the muscles surrounding the tailbone, and internal tailbone adjustments.

After giving birth, a mother’s hormone levels undergo many changes as her body transitions from pregnancy to the postpartum period. These hormonal shifts are essential for many processes, including uterine contraction, milk production, as well as emotional bonding with the baby.

Painful intercourse after a hysterectomy is not uncommon. Hormonal changes, muscle tension and post-operative scar tissue can contribute to pain. Pelvic floor physical therapy is very effective at decreasing pain and improving quality of life after hysterectomy.

Any exercise can be a diastasis recti exercise. With diastasis recti, it is important that you challenge the core enough to lead to strength gains, but not too much to lead to worsening of the diastasis.

Diastasis recti exercises should be individualized. What is an appropriate challenge for one person, is not necessarily appropriate for someone else.

Your body goes through major changes during pregnancy! From weakened pelvic floor muscles to aching joints and muscles, the postpartum period can take a toll on a woman's body. Regardless of delivery method, there has been a major change in how your body functions. Postpartum physical therapy helps women recover from pregnancy and is a specialty you may not be aware of.

Out of network physical therapy offers longer treatment sessions, allowing for more comprehensive assessments and targeted interventions. Specialized therapists cannot offer their entire skill set in a short session, or while they are also focusing on other patients. Extended time that is offered with out of network therapy enables your therapist to delve deeper into your condition, identify underlying issues, and develop a more personalized treatment plan.